Butter London Stroppy

It's been a while since I've featured a BL polish on here. I used to be obsessed with the brand but they seem to be emphasizing their foray into makeup much more than their polish lately. But I had an urge to wear some purple polish over the weekend, so I pulled this one out of my untrieds.

Stroppy is a purple shimmer with a slight pink color shift. The shift looks very intense in the bottle (you can even see some gold in there too) but is considerably more subtle on the nail. I won't lie, it was super disappointing, but when you consider Stroppy for what it actually is instead of what the bottle teases, it's still very pretty. It has beautiful red flecks that helps make up for the lack of shifty goodness.

The formula was average--nothing much to report. I used three coats here.

Would this polish be even prettier with that fantastic color shift? Of course! I hate vanishing shimmers and shifters. But it's still a lovely purple, so long as you know what to expect.

Butter London Invite Only (Holiday 2015) Preview

Seems a little early for holiday sets, doesn't it? But Butter London has already got their holiday sets for sale on their site and I imagine it won't be too terribly long 'til we see them in stores too. Get those wishlists ready and take a look!

 

Password Please Nail Art Collection, featuring...

Top row, L to R: Spotlight, Doily (re-promote), Bubbly, ombre brush

Bottom row, L to R: Hush-Hush, Password Please, Looker

 

Invite Only Set

L to R: Pash, Vapour, Lock I, Peep Hole, Glad Rags, O.T.T.

 

Twelve Months of Manis Collection, featuring...

Top row, L to R: High Tea (repromote), Luv, Fiver (repromote), Molly-Coddled (repromote), Petal, Petticoat (repromote)

Bottom row, L to R: Summer Hols, Tiddly (repromote), Clever Clogs, Swish, Scrummy, Bubbly

There are quite a few other sets, all of which either feature make-up or all repromoted polishes, so I didn't post them here. But you can see the whole collection on BL's site. 

I think they did a really great job with these sets, but I gotta say, Butter seems to be doing more and more sets lately and I miss when you could buy their new colors individually instead of only in mini sets. It'd be nice to have the option of getting some of the new colors as stand-alones rather than having to get a whole set. 

Do you prefer when brands do big blockbuster holiday sets like these or do you want individual products? I love buying cosmetic sets like this, but for polish, I'd rather just pick up one or two ful size shades I really like.

Butter London Gobsmacked

Hello all! I hope the week is treating you well so far. I've got a quick NOTD to share with you today. I was in the mood for a fall color, so I put on Butter London Gobsmacked, a charcoal glitter. It's a great fashion-forward shade for autumn! This polish dries to a textured finish on its own, but I put on some top coat to bring out the silver sparkles more.

Gobsmacked has a nice, easy formula. What you see above is three coats. Removal was pretty typical for a textured polish--easier than glitter but harder than a creme. I think this is actually the only textured polish that I prefer to wear with top coat. It's still pretty without, it pops more with a little shine on top!

Butter London Jaffa

What color is Butter London Jaffa? I'm not sure there's an official name for it, but it's basically like an orange polish and a coral polish had a love child. It's a beautiful in-between shade--perfect for us nailophiles who can never make up our mind!

Here's where things go off the rails with Jaffa: what you see above is four coats. It went on surprisingly patchy and I really needed all four coats to completely even things out. Given how vibrant the color is, you wouldn't expect it to be so difficult to build up.

Is there a polish you like with a not-so-hot formula?

Butter London Arm Candy Preview

Butter London has teamed up with Allure magazine for a new collection, Arm Candy. The set features six new colors, as well as a minis set with four exclusive colors. As you might expect from a collab with a fashion magazine, the colors are a mix of classic staples and trendy shades. Take a look!

 

Nude Stilettos

 

Statement Piece

 

It's Vintage

 

I'm On The List

 

Disco Nap

 

Lust Or Must?

 

Top row, L to R: Violet's Revenge, The Sweet Spot

Bottom row, L to R: So Major!, Front Row

The collection just went up on Butter London's website. I'm not sure if we'll see these in stores or if they'll be online only. I don't see anything here that I'd go out of my way to buy, but Statement Piece and I'm On The List are pretty enough. I'd probably be interested in So Major! if it was available on its own.

Will you be picking anything up from this collection?

Born Pretty Marilyn Monroe Water Decals: Review & Swatches

I'm a huge Marilyn Monroe fan, so I was super excited to create some Marilyn nails with these Born Pretty Store water decals! They've actually got several different Marilyn-themed decal sets, all of which you can see HERE. The set I chose looks like this:

The decals are opaque enough that you can wear them over just about any base color. I tend to favor more neutral colors with water decals, so that they are the star of the show. My base here is Butter Trallop.

Water decals are crazy easy to use and they work just like a temporary tattoo: cut, soak, peel and set. If you've failed at traditional nail art before, then give some water decals a try. I seriously believe anyone can use them!

I've used many Born Pretty water decals in my day and I have to say that this set is one of my absolute favorites. I love the fact that you can layer them over any color you choose and the decals themselves are lovely. If you're a Marilyn/old Hollywood fan, definitely give these a look!

And as always, if you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was provided for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Butter London Trallop

First off, I want to thank everyone for their well wishes for my big day at work yesterday. My boss' boss' boss was supposed to visit, but then they wound up having to re-schedule at the last minute. I was all ready to go but I can't say I don't welcome the extra prep time!

Anywho, enough real life! Let's do what we all came here for: talk polish! I was pretty sure Butter London Trallop was going to be a disaster on me, but I'm trying to open myself up more to nude polish--and a camel-colored nude like Trallop is not something I'd normally try. I will rock a crazy bright without batting an eyelash but I'm way less confident with nudes for some reason. But once I got over all that and tried Trallop on? Well, I kinda love it! I was shocked how well it matches my skintone!

It's been a while since I wore a creme from Butter London (I tend to be drawn more to their shimmers and glitters) and I'd forgotton how nicely they apply. The formula was very smooth and...well, buttery. This is two coats. 

I am beyond surprised how much I fell in love with Trallop. I wore it alone for a bit, but then I did some really fun nail art on it that I'm super excited to show you guys later this week! :)

Twinsie Tuesday: Jelly Sandwich

This week's Twinsie Tuesday theme is easy enough: a jelly sandwich. Yet I still screwed something up with it, which I'll get to in a minute. Let's start with the basics here. My base was Essie Hubby For Dessert, a light lavender jelly from this year's bridal collection. Then in the middle part of my sandwich, I used Butter London Doily, a milky pink base filled with matte white bar and hex glitters.

So I dunno if it was the fault of Doily or my OPI Infinite Shine top coat, but I had some pretty noticeable bubbling here. It's not as visible in pictures, but it's there. So I think I put one of those two on a little too thick, but what can ya do?

Other than the bubbling issues, I'm pretty pleased with this mani. It looks light and airy--perfect for spring! I know it's supposed to be summer, but with the rainy weather we have here in Michigan today it sure doesn't feel like it!

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Savannah at Addicted to Polish

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Lisa at The Polish Playground

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Kristine at Pink and Polished Nails

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

Bridget at A Painted Nail

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Amanda at Fashion Footing

Amanda at Amandalandish

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Butter London Wallis

Oh, Wallis... *swoon* I am an extremely indecisive person, so I very rarely have a favorite anything. But Butter London Wallis has got to be one of my top polishes EVER. I had a great excuse to wear it this weekend: my boyfriend's graduation dinner! We went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, which I still think is the weirdest name for a restaurant, but whatevs, it was delicious! My outfit for the evening was a vintage 1960s white sequined dress. I thought Wallis' green-tinged, antiqued shade of gold was a great counterpart for it.

Wallis has a wonderful formula. I used three coats here. Two probably would have been fine, but I wanted to be extra sure everything was even and opaque.

This is definitely more of a fall color, but I can never resist an opportunity to bust out one of my all-time favorites! What are some of your favorite Butter London polishes? Off the top of my head, a few of my picks (other than Wallis) would be No More Waity, Katie, The Black Knight and Two-Fingered Salute.

Barielle Glitter Mania Collection: Review & Swatches

Fellow glitter groupies, you've come to the right place, because today I've got five awesome new glitters from the Barielle Glitter Mania Collection to show you!

Up first we have Orange Flame, a clear base with medium metallic orange hexes. This one's really eye-catching and pops especially well over darker bases. This is one coat over OPI Road House Blues.

 

Confetti has medium matte hexes in a variety of colors: off-white, grey, black, blue and magenta. I have to say, I got a ton of compliments on this mani! Even strangers would comment on it and it seemed like everyone wanted to know "how I did it," so it was cool to be able to tell them it was just a glitter topper. My co-workers said my nails looked like a little garden. :) This is one coat of Confetti over Butter London Slapper. (As an aside, this is probably the closest I've ever come to a color-accurate photo of Slapper, which is a serious pain in the ass to capture on camera.)

Mermaid Fin is a mix of pastel blue hexes and silver holo micro-glitter. This is one of my favorites from the collection! It's very unique and that extra touch of sparkle from the holo is everything! Here's one coat over OPI I Vant To Be A-Lone Star.

Princess Pink is a mix of small and medium metallic pink hexes. This is sooo cute! I have to admit I wasn't too intrigued by it in the bottle, but it's so shamelessly girly on the nails that I couldn't help but love it. I thought it'd be fun to do a pink-on-pink layering for this one, so here is one coat over one of my very favorite pink cremes, Essie French Affair.

Gemstones is probably the most complex glitter of the bunch. It's got steel grey microglitter with small purple hexes and medium silver holo hexes. To give you a really obscure polish reference, this reminds me of a less opaque version of Studio M Firecracker. This is one coat over Essie Spun In Luxe.

Overall, this is a really solid collection. The formulas are all wonderful and as for the polishes themselves, I don't think there's a single clunker in the bunch! My favorites are Confetti and Mermaid Fin. What about you? :)

You can purchase Barielle from their website.


Disclosure: These polishes were provided for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Butter London Chancer

It's rare, but sometimes I become ultra smitten with a red polish. Butter London Chancer is one of those reds. It's a rich red jelly base packed with vibrant shimmer. I love how it's very classic-looking but still sexy and fun. It reminds me of a deeper version of the iconic China Glaze Ruby Pumps. This might not be the most unique shade ever, but damn if it isn't beautiful!

The formula is amazing--no complaints whatsoever here. This was a quick n' easy two coats.

I've got a wedding to go to in a little over a month, where in all likelihood I'll be wearing this red dress I haven't put on in years. I'm toying with the idea of wearing Chancer with it, but do you think that's too matchy-matchy? I'm hardly ever stumped on what to wear on my nails but outside of doing something really neutral, I can't think of something else to pair with a formal red dress!

Butter London Patent Shine 10X Nail Lacquer Preview

Butter released a Patent Shine base and top coat system a few months back and now they've come out with a new line of polishes to go with it! It seems like every brand is coming out with some type of gel alternative these days. I haven't tried BL's system, so I can't speak to how well it works, but their Patent Shine polishes use something called "shock resisting polymer technology" that is supposed to create a high-shine, long-wearing mani.

Pink Knickers

 

Loverly

 

Flusher Blusher

 

Smashing!

 

Her Majesty's Red

 

Afters

 

Shop Girl

 

Mum's The Word

 

Ta-Ta!

 

Over The Moon

 

Fancy

 

Broody

 

Jolly Good

 

Chat Up

I saw these in person the other day and I was really tempted by Fancy, but I held out for now. I bought OPI's Infinite Shine system and one of their IS polishes a little while ago and I still haven't tried it, so I want to give that test run before trying any other long-wear polishes.

The Patent Shine polishes retail for $18 a pop and just launched on Butter London's website.